Users may view web pages by using a browser to load and display the web page (e.g., Google's Chrome browser, the Opera browser, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, Mozilla's Firefox, Apple's Safari, Lynx, Links and w3m). A user may also browse other pages by following hyperlinks on the web page to other web pages. Hyperlinks often include a visual component that is displayed to the user, such as the word “here” in the text “Click here to learn more”, and a component that defines the target location of the link, such as “www.a.com/home”, that may or may not be visible to the user (absent viewing the source code of the web page).
Browsers typically provide other navigation features that allow users to load web pages from locations on a network. By way of example, browsers typically provide an on-screen “back” button, which takes the user back to the last-viewed location when the user clicks the button with a mouse (unless the user just clicked the back button, in which case selecting the “forward” button will return the user to the last-viewed location). Many browsers also provide a selectable history of locations that have been visited by the user within the last browsing session or longer.
Some websites require a user to fill in forms, which may make it difficult for users to rely solely on a mouse without using a keyboard.
Many browsers allow navigation functions to be selected by keyboard. For instance, pressing the backspace button on a keyboard may send a signal to the processor such that the processor, in accordance with the instructions of the executed browser program, interprets the backspace signal as a request by the user to load the information at the last-viewed location. Many browsers also allow users to iterate through links by pressing one or more particular keys, such as by pressing the tab key repeatedly. Most browsers also permit a user to navigate to a link by searching for text displayed by, or near, the link. Moreover, some websites, such as Google's Gmail site, allow users to perform actions in connection with the site based on keyboard shortcuts. Certain browsers also tend to be more text-based than others, such as Lynx, Links and w3m.
Various types of information at various locations may be viewed by users. For example, the target location of a hyperlink on a web page may be another location on the same web page, another web page of the same website (e.g., a link from “www.a.com/home” to “www.a.com/purchasepage”), or a different web page of a different website (e.g., a link from “www.a.com/home” to “www.b.com”). The information at a location accessed by a browser may comprise a document (e.g., an HTML web page), a content file to be rendered by the browser (either natively or with the assistance of a plug-in), or a program to be downloaded and executed by the processor.
Systems and methods are also used to analyze the hyperlinks on a web page and determine which of the various targets may be of greatest interest to a user. For example, Google uses many signals to examine the link structure of the web and determine which pages are most important.